Spotlight: April 24, 2023
It's a new week in The Year of Our Arbiter two-thousand-and-twenty-three, and what better way to kick it off than with another Halo Spotlight to show off some of the latest creative works from the community?
Let's dive right in!
CRÈME DE LA CRÈME
Let's begin with this astoundingly excellent piece by Camillo Pasquali (@millisworlds), who has sought to capture the chaotic fun of the Halo multiplayer experience.
Getting some Halo 2: Multiplayer Map Pack vibes from this, which seems fitting because this would make for some incredibly eye-catching video game box art!
Next up, @chrisobrooksart has let us know that their favorite short from Halo Legends was "The Babysitter," and showcased that with this beautiful illustration of Cal-141 leading the ODSTs.
"Colossal androgynous tank lady bridal carries grumpy ODST-in-distress as they explore mysterious ancient ruins to assassinate a Prophet"—a timeless classic!
@NSClark98 is channeling some big Jorge-052 energy with this heavy weapons Spartan clad in Mark VII armor, and you can see the process that took this piece from sketch to final in the link to their Twitter post.
Finally, a scene that really is the gift that keeps on giving. Here's your endorsement to go and read (or reread) the masterful Halo: Ghosts of Onyx.
Holly moved close to Kurt, her assault rifle uselessly aimed at the incoming drone. “Is she fast enough?”
“Kelly’s the fastest Spartan,” Kurt whispered.
That didn’t answer her question, though: was she fast enough. Kurt didn’t know.
The Sentinel pair was half a kilometer away. One of the spheres heated and light flashed. Kelly took three sidesteps as the ground where she had been standing vaporized. Globules of molten rock spattered off her MJOLNIR armor’s energy shield.
She made an ancient and arcane gesture at the machine with one finger.
Mark joined Holly and Kurt. “No way,” he breathed.
Kelly turned and ran, leaving a plume of dust in her wake.
An iconic classic Kelly-087 moment, depicted @TN2_VRC.
MEDIEVAL MADNESS
Fracture events in Halo Infinite have explored some alternate takes on Halo's aesthetics and themes, giving us samurai and dieselpunk Spartans, but what would a medieval fantasy-inspired take on the Covenant look like?
This is the question that Cosmin Ţîrlea has sought to answer, whose Halo fan art has been highlighted by Xyda Azavaryl.
DELICIOUS DELICACIES
Last year saw the release of Halo: The Official Cookbook, featuring over 70 recipes for all occasions—from Grunt-sized snacks to feats that could fill the belly of a Brute.
William Hatchett (AKA Jealous-Artichoke on Reddit and @whatchett on Twitter) has been giving us the gift of photographing the meals he's been cooking up based on recipes from the cookbook, and he has proven himself a true Master Chef!
VALIANT VIDEOS
Sometimes, you just can't reload fast enough...
Like the others, you were strong and swift and brave. A natural leader. But you had something they didn't, something no one saw but me.
Can you guess?
What happens when a Spartan is dripless?
HARUSPINE HANDICRAFTS
Emergency Contact Protocol UPSILON has been declared. CORRUPTER initiated. Weapons of mass destruction authorized to eliminate local Flood infestation following the infection of Spartan super-soldier "RadMax117."
Squad leaders are requesting a rally point, and ShimmyWookie has come to tell them they must go... to War!
(ADDENDUM: Squad leaders are requesting further clarification on the nature of "War" as a rally point...)
Back in my day, we had to load specific checkpoints on Legendary and jump through holographic rings in a certain order to get the IWHBYD skull. But ALEX7DX has managed to acquire one through the esoteric process of 3D printing. That's some neural physics trickery, if you ask me!
They say that you can't win 'em all, and that much is certainly true of the scene Rico has staged here: Master Chief's moment of defeat.
A GATHERING OF GREATNESS
FIN
All of you who had something featured in this installment should be sure to fill out the submission form so we can grant you your Unicorn of Fire rewards.
Until the next time, keep on creating!